


Before There Was Light

by amandaithink



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Child Lucifer, Chloe KNOWS, Confused Lucifer, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I Tried, Kid Fic, Less playboy more demiurge, Minor Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Oblivious Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), One Shot, POV Chloe, Post-Season/Series 03, Prompt Fill, Supposed to be funny, Temporary Amnesia, Trixie Decker & Lucifer Morningstar Friendship, first prompt fill, like in a lead up subtext kind of way, lucifer doesn't like doors, might be kind of cracky i'm not sure, overwhelmed chloe decker, possibly too much science, post-reveal, some comic influence, tried to write fluff but still got angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 01:32:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18488533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandaithink/pseuds/amandaithink
Summary: Lucifer decides to deal with a celestial matter outside his Father's creation. There are some glitches involving Time. Chloe is in over her head. Shenanigans ensue.For the prompt: AU where Lucifer turned into a child, with no memories of his rebellion or hell or his time in Los Angeles, possibly leading to Chloe babysitting while Amenadiel and Maze try to find answers and a way to transform him back





	Before There Was Light

**Author's Note:**

> Took a quick break from the main Lucifer fic I've been working on because I saw this on luciferprompts and it seemed so fun and I couldn't get it out of my head. I was going for fluff and it just...also went a bunch of different directions. You'll see.
> 
> First, some assumptions and heads ups because this is my first attempt to one shot (as opposed to multi-chapter plot stories) and I feel like you need some explanations idk:
> 
> 1\. Post S3 reveal, time has passed and Chloe and Lucifer have talked and things are kind of back to normal and also heading in a certain direction.  
> 2\. I’m stuck in a demiurge headcannon atm because [ariaadagio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariaadagio/pseuds/ariaadagio) is awesome and I just cannot  
> 3\. I feel like a de-aged fic needs to involve time and I can’t write about time without science I’m too into science  
> 4\. Amenadiel is significantly older than Lucifer enough that kid!Lucifer thinks nothing of the fact that his brother is an adult  
> 5\. Lucifer was a bloody handful as a child because archangel kids have the same powers they’re always going to have and none of the training  
> 6\. Lucifer has a very complicated relationship with Time and also physics in general which hopefully isn’t too science cracky but I just like science okay guys
> 
> Unbeta'd - all mistakes are mine.
> 
> I own nothing.

“What are these?” 

They were at the precinct, having just finished up a case. Chloe was just getting started on the paperwork and Lucifer had wandered away. When she glanced up he was looking at the department bulletin board. Missing Person’s had posted a detailed listing for their current case, just in case Homicide ended up overlapping with one.

“A bunch of people have been going missing,” she explained, not knowing if he was really interested or just bored, “I don’t know all the details, but it’s getting worse. The abductions are becoming more frequent.” 

“Why aren’t we investigating?” he asked, moving back over to her desk to tower over her.

“We’re Homicide, Lucifer. It’s a Missing Person’s case. Why?” It didn’t seem like the kind of thing he would normally find interesting.

“Tell me, do you know how they’re tying all of these together? Proof that it’s not a bunch of separate kidnappings or runaways?”

“Uhm…there’s always, some sort of smell,” Chloe tried to remember, giving up on the paperwork for now and focusing on him.

“Lavender and rain, perhaps?” He looked eager, and his suggestion jogged her memory.

“How did you know that?” It hadn’t been posted on the board, it had been in a more detailed e-mail sent out last week. 

“It’s a Time Eater.” The words sounded menacing, even when he delivered them with such glee. 

“Excuse me, what?” It had been months since she found out Lucifer really was the Devil, months since she had (kind of) come to terms with that, but this was the first time that she was confronted with something that sounded like celestial knowledge that _didn’t_ seem to directly involve him and his…devilishness. 

“A Time Eater, Detective! They like to collect chronological life force. Your missing people have been removed to another dimension.” His words were barely computing. 

“So…what does this mean? Is it just going to keep happening?” 

“I’m sure I can deal with the miscreant. If not make it give up what it’s taken, I can at least remove it from this plane of existence. Where was it last active?” Lucifer straightened his cuff links and stood up straighter, a manic grin on his face.  

“Erm…somewhere in Malibu, let me check. I’’m coming with you,” she decided. He looked like he was about to have fun but his words sounded like _danger danger dANGER_. 

“You most certainly are not! I can’t have you being flitted away by the thing!”

“Yeah, well what about you?” she countered. The address of the most recent kidnapping was now pulled up on her screen. 

“I predate Time, it can’t budge me,” he waved her off, leaning to look at her screen. His offhanded delivery of that statement left Chloe reeling. Her partner predated Time. 

“So…this is one of those celestial matters I can’t be involved in?” she asked, the severity of the situation hitting her like a wave.

“Precisely, Detective.”

“Well, I guess I appreciate you letting me know this time,” she settled on. Lucifer smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I’ve always let you know, but it’s…quite nice, having you believe me for once.”

For the first time Chloe got an idea of what it must have been like for him. Trying to explain his actions to her, the larger than life situations going on around them, and having her completely disregard them. How helpless it must have made him feel. She didn’t have time to even begin apologizing before Lucifer was walking away.

“I’ll let you know how it goes!” he called over his shoulder, and then he was gone.

 

* * *

 

It had been two days and she hadn’t heard a word. All of her calls went straight to voicemail and none of her texts even showed up as ‘delivered’. Chloe was worried. Then it just so happened that she walked into the precinct at the same time as two officers moving a child wrapped in a blanket. A child that she looked at and knew with terrifying certainty was _Lucifer_.

“Uh hey,” she walked up to the man as he placed a wide eyed and disturbingly unresponsive Lucifer into a chair, “what’s going on?”

The officer turned - his name plate informing her his name was Rodgers - and looked almost as confused as she did. “We found this kid in a warehouse outside of Malibu. For some reason he was just left there, dressed in an adult’s torn up designer suit, completely terrified. He doesn’t seem to have any idea what’s going on and won’t talk to anyone.” 

Chloe once again looked at Lucifer. He looked to be about Trixie’s age, and when his eyes met hers there was no recognition. The same fear being broadcasted at all wavelengths. It was heartbreaking.

“I think I recognize him,” she finally said, “I just need to make a call.”

 

* * *

 

Amenadiel got to the precinct quicker than she thought possible. For a brief moment she wondered if he flew there, but wouldn’t allow herself to go down that train of thought. Right now all of her focus needed to stay on Lucifer. Who was suddenly a child. Because this was her life now. 

“Where is he?” his brother asked, straight to the point.

“They put him in a conference room to wait for CPS. I can take you there. But what _happened_?” she asked as they walked up the stairs. 

“What happened was my idiot brother thought he could vanquish a Time Eater without assistance. If he had just _told_ me, I would have been able to help him. I also would have been able to warn him that he wouldn’t be immune to the Time Eater’s power.”

“So…what did it do, exactly?” With Chloe’s upbringing of bad sci-fi she had some idea, but needed to hear it aloud. It was all too much and she was using all of her training to try to keep a clear head. 

“It took all of Lucifer’s Time. A Time Eater is a sentient dimension, and the more Time it consumes, the stronger it gets. Now that it has consumed eons, it will be much harder for me to deal with.”

They had reached the door to the conference room, but Chloe stopped Amenadiel at the door. She had a few more questions before they went in there. Questions she didn’t think she should ask in front of Lucifer while he was…in this state. 

“And Lucifer’s…being a child?”

“He is as he was the moment before our Father told me to put Time into the celestial and material planes.”

“So does that mean his memories…are those gone to?”

“Yes. This Lucifer…is not Lucifer. He will not even recognize that name.”

“Wait, what?” Lucifer wasn’t Lucifer’s real name?

“Lucifer is the name he gave himself after his Fall. This…in the room…is Samael, before Creation. The Light Bringer before there was light.”

Chloe felt dizzy. After she found out that all of this was real, her and Lucifer had talked. A lot. At no point, though, did any of _this_ reality come into the picture. It was more than she was built to handle. She wished she could sit down, put her head in between her knees, and quietly have a meltdown. 

“What are we going to do?” The question came out in a gasp.

“I can handle it. It should have been me handling it in the first place. The Time Eater will be stronger now, but I can get Mazikeen to help if necessary. But first, we need to get Lucifer somewhere safe.”

With that, he entered the conference room, and Chloe followed blindly. Lucifer had been sitting in a chair, dressed in clothes found for him by Officer Rodgers, staring into space. The moment he saw Amenadiel, though, he burst into movement in a way that she hadn’t been expecting given how still and terrified he had been since the moment of his arrival (and probably before). 

“Amenadiel! You’re here as well!”

He still sounded British, and Chloe tried not to wonder about that. Lucifer practically leapt out of the chair, straight into his brothers arms. It was so _different_ than how she had ever seen him react to his brother. There was so much about his past that she didn’t know. Probably too many _eons_ than she would ever be able to comprehend, so she couldn’t blame him for never hinting at these memories from _before Time_. 

“Yes, brother, I'm here.” Amenadiel’s smile was genuine, but bittersweet as he knelt to embrace him.

“What is this place?” Lucifer asked, glancing at her and then quickly back to his brother. She couldn’t help but notice the fear was gone.

“We are in the material plane.”

“What?” Lucifer abruptly left his brother’s arms, rapidly looking around as if seeing everything for the first time. His confusion was soon replaced by _sadness_ that Chloe didn’t understand. “B-but…”

“You grew up, brother. Eons have passed,” Amenadiel explained slowly.

“So…I did this?” Chloe didn’t know what he meant. “Why don’t I remember?”

“Your Time has been taken from you. Eons have passed. Do not worry, I will fix it.”

“What’s an eon?” Lucifer’s confusion was so honest and endearing. So childlike.

“A very long time.” The non-specificity of the answer didn’t seem to bother Lucifer, who had gone back to looking around. It seems his attention span was…honestly, the same as ever. Their eyes met and Lucifer edged closer to Amenadiel. 

“So…is…are there…”

“Everyone else here is a human, yes.”

Lucifer lit up. Chloe thought he might even be _literally_ glowing, but she couldn’t be sure.

“Amenadiel! We have to-”

Chloe never figured out what it was that Lucifer was so happy about doing, because his brother interrupted. 

“I have to get your Time back. Hopefully Chloe can watch you while I’m gone.” Amenadiel glanced at her and she nodded, not knowing what else she could do. She could take off…there were no active cases, and if he needed Maze’s help there was no one else she could imagine watching a child Lucifer. 

“Why can’t we just go home?”

Home. Which Lucifer thinks is Heaven. Because he doesn’t know any different. Chloe doesn’t know how she’s going to make it through this.

“I need you to be on this plane when I get your Time back,” Amenadiel answered. It gave nothing away.

“Why?”

“It is what Father wants.”

“Okay.” That was…it, and she was reeling again. Lucifer’s - _proper_ Lucifer’s - lack of trust had never been so apparent to her as it was now that she saw the opposite. 

Amenadiel led Lucifer over to her where she’d been frozen by the door throughout their whole conversation. Lucifer smiled at her brighter than the stars. If she wasn’t so overwhelmed by the situation, she would have been overcome by how _cute_ he was. 

“This is Chloe Decker,” Amenadiel introduced them, because this Lucifer _didn’t know her_ , “you don’t remember her, but she is a human I know you trust.”

“Hello Chloe Decker!” Without the underlying sarcasm and condescension often accompanying it, Lucifer’s enthusiasm for every mundane moment of life was… _angelic_. For the first time it really hit her that Lucifer was an _angel_. She had known this, yeah, but right now she could _feel_ it. 

“Hi,” she managed, holding out a hand for some reason as if he was going to shake it. He didn’t. Instead he pulled her down to him and hugged her. Lucifer Morningstar, initiating a hug.

“I will be right back, brother. Once I’ve sorted out your police matter we can all leave.” Amenadiel left her alone in the conference room, arms still full of Lucifer. 

“What’s it like being a human?” he asked her as soon as they were alone. What’s it like, because he doesn’t know. What’s it like, because he isn’t one.

“I…wouldn’t know how to answer that,” she replied honestly. She wouldn’t know what to compare it to.

“That’s alright. I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Where are we going?”

Chloe sighed, shutting her eyes for a brief moment. Lucifer was a child. Children asked questions. Lucifer was a child with a lot of questions. She might not make it through this, but she hoped she could.

“You and I are going to go to my house.”

“Oh. Whose home are we at now?”

“It’s not a home, it’s a police precinct. People work here.” Something twisted in his face, a strange mix of confusion and distress. It reminded her of Trixie sometimes when she was sick. Lucifer abandoned his line of questioning, backtracking to questions that must be more comfortable for him. 

“What will we do when we get to your house?”

“I’m not sure. What would you like to do?”

This question seemed to stump him, and he sat down on the floor, seeming to be deep in thought. Chloe would take it, needing time to recover from the barrage of questions. Lucifer was still thinking when Amenadiel returned from dealing with CPS (she didn’t even want to know how he managed it). 

“Brother, are you ready to leave?”

“Yes,” was all he answered. Amenadiel led them out, holding Lucifer’s hand, and Chloe followed. Now when Lucifer looked around his brow was creased with worry. After a quick stop for Chloe to get permission to leave, they reached her car.

“Text me if you need anything, and I mean _anything_ ,” Amenadiel told her before turning to his brother, “Will you promise to behave for Chloe?”

“I promise.” It was the first words he’d said in nearly twenty minutes, and they were subdued.

“Good. I will return as soon as I can.”

Chloe opened the back door, and when she turned around Amenadiel had vanished. Lucifer just watched her, curious but calmer than he had been in the conference room. 

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing at the car.

“It’s a car. A, uh…vehicle. For getting places faster,” she explained, “Why don’t you get in? I’ll help you with your seatbelt.”

“Okay. What’s a seatbelt?” he asked, once seated.

“They’re straps that keep you from falling out of your seat.”

“Why would I fall?” Lucifer seemed completely baffled. The look he gave her actually seemed offended, which was just so _classic_ Lucifer that she couldn’t help but laugh. 

“It’s just in case there’s an accident,” she assured him before getting into the car herself.

“An accident?! What kind of accident?”

“A…car accident?” Chloe imagined it would be easier to explain things to an alien. Then she almost started hyperventilating, realizing that he pretty much _was_ an alien. It took her longer than it should have to get the car started. 

“Fine,” Lucifer huffed, crossing his arms and pouting in the back seat, “keep your secrets.”

“I don’t mean it like that,” she tried to reassure him, “it’s just that I’ve never had to explain this kind of stuff to someone before. I’m not sure how.”

It didn’t seem that he had paid attention, though. As soon as the car started moving, all of his wide-eyed focus was on the windows. Half of the drive was spent in silence. 

“Is this what humans have because they don’t have wings?” he asked eventually.

“Oh…I guess so. I’ve never really…thought of it like that before.”

“Hmm…it’s different then I thought it would be.” A completely different thought, one laced with sadness. 

“What is?” When Chloe glanced at him in the rearview mirror he looked like he was about to cry.

“All of it. This planet…the humans…I messed it up, didn’t I?” Suddenly he was sobbing and Chloe had no idea what to do. She pulled over in a strip mall and got into the back seat with him, hugging him close and trying to soothe him. 

“Shh…it’s okay, you didn’t mess anything up sweetie.” Lucifer was a child, so she comforted him the way she would Trixie. 

“B-but why is it-…Dad said that- that when I grew up, M-Mike and me w-would make this- and- and when He said- He said it was going to be _good_! Th-that He would make humans to live here and they would be _happy_.” Chloe felt equal parts distressed and surreal.

Lucifer had never said a word about making the Universe. Stars, he brought up, but never…the rest. And now, this _child_ Lucifer was inconsolable. Because he didn’t think the world was good enough, or that humans were happy enough.

“What makes you think it’s not good?” she asked him, carding her fingers through his hair.

“It’s really dirty…and there’s lots of doors. You need policing.”

“Okay…well, there’s plenty of good stuff to outweigh all the bad. And the bad stuff isn’t your fault.” 

“But why is it like this? What happened?” Lucifer hiccuped before burying himself deeper into her arms. 

“I don’t really know, hun…it was a long time ago.”

“I hate Time,” he mumbled, “it’s so boring.”

“Oh yeah?” He seemed to be calming down, and she was glad.

“Yeah. I know I need to pay attention to it when Amenadiel tries to explain, but it’s just not fun!” Lucifer sat up a bit, wiping his eyes and seeming to get excited for a tanget - something she was quite familiar with. “All it sounds like is a bunch of rules so that you can’t fix things if you mess up. The only good thing about it is that you can use it to create things easier.” 

“I don’t know that humans quite see time like that,” Chloe said slowly, feeling a little uncertain. She didn’t know how to talk about Time as if it wasn’t a constant, but obviously that wasn’t the case. Maybe if she was a physicist she would be more help to him.

“Oh, well…if you actually understand Time, you can make a causal nexus in it. So when you make stuff it reacts to other stuff and everything will turn out better…or something like that. But because the causal nexus exists in Time, you can’t fix something if it didn’t turn out right. Time ruins everything because everything in the nexus is chained to a piece of Time so if you don’t get it right the first time, you never will. At least that’s what I’ve gotten out of it. I hate Time.” 

She wanted to remember this, so that she could as Lucifer again if… _when_ he was back to normal. Of all the celestial questions she had asked him, she’d never thought that ‘oh, Lucifer could explain how things like Time actually work’. She wanted to remember for later, because right now he didn’t seem like he had a firm handle on it.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” she settled on. Lucifer sighed before looking up at her.

“That’s okay. I’m hoping if I practice enough, I can get it right…maybe…” he glanced around again with displeasure but didn’t seem like he was about to burst into tears again. Chloe followed his gaze and noticed a frozen yogurt shop in the strip mall.

“Hey, do you wanna see a really good thing about being on Earth?” she asked.

“Yeah!”

“Do you know what frozen yogurt is?” She was pretty sure he didn’t, but felt the need to ask anyway.

“No, what is it?”

“Well, it’s a kind of cold dessert. It tastes really good.”

“What’s dessert?”

“Oh…it’s a sweet food, you usually have it after eating.”

“What’s food? Also what’s eating??” Once again Chloe was up a creek with no paddle.

“Er…you don’t have to eat?”

“I don’t think so…?” Lucifer seemed to hesitate at her unease, “But maybe no one’s told me about it yet.” 

“Uh…put stuff in your mouth, chew it, swallow, and it gives you energy and nourishment?” She was starting to understand Lucifer’s usual complete lack of knowledge about when humans learned things. This version of him made normal Lucifer Morningstar seemed very well-adjusted to humanity. If only Amenadiel had left her an instruction book on all things Lucifer at this time. 

“That sounds interesting! Let’s do it!” In his excitement, the seatbelt sprang off of Lucifer’s body, and he scrambled out of the car. The door opened without him touching it.

“Hey Lucifer?” she called before he could get too far.

“What’s Lucifer mean?” he asked, turning around to watch as she exited the car. 

“Oh, right…it’s a…nickname I call you. I forgot you wouldn’t remember.”

“Huh. Who came up with that? It doesn’t sound like Samael at all.” 

“You did. I…I think it means something, but I forget what.” She should have remembered that Lucifer wasn’t his name! It was one of the few warnings Amenadiel had given her! Chloe readied herself for any myriad of negative reactions as Lucifer whispered the name to himself. 

And then he smiled. “I think it means Light Bringer. That’s a cool nickname.”

Crisis averted. Lucifer seemed as angelically happy as he had at the precinct. They went into the frozen yogurt shop and Lucifer seemed like he had a great time. She had forgotten to ask him about what he did to get out of the car and wasn’t sure how to bring it back up again.

All of the workers adored him, and Chloe found that when people reacted to him in the context of his being a child it was much more charming then when he was an adult. His desirable qualities were very different. 

Apparently he thought money was unnecessary, eating could be simpler, and strawberry lemonade frozen yogurt was the best thing he had ever tasted. The fact that it was the only thing he’d every tasted was not a factor he deemed worthy of considering. By the time they reached Chloe’s apartment, it was as if his moment in the car had never happened. 

“You have a door, too?” he asked her, ruining the hope she’d just had. 

“What’s wrong with having a door?” she asked as she unlocked her own.

“It…they…feel like…loneliness and fear.”

“You can feel the door?” Chloe decided to focus on that part first, since there was a lot of things that didn’t make sense about his statement. She wished that she could count everything he said up to him being ‘just a kid’, but…it was Lucifer.

“I can feel everything.” 

“Can all angels feel things?”

“I’m not an angel,” he huffed, “I’m an archangel.” Chloe hadn’t realized there was that big of a difference, but obviously it mattered to him. 

“Okay, can all archangels feel things?”

“No, I don’t think so. We’re all different, even me and Mikey.” That was the second time he had brought up a Mike or Mikey, but she decided not to ask. The door thing was bothering him and she wanted to help. 

“Why do you think the doors are scared and lonely?”

“Don’t be silly, it’s not the _doors_ that are doing any feeling. Can you imagine? I’m talking about the feelings that get left on the doors.”

That was…surprisingly helpful and did a lot for Chloe’s piece of mind. “Oh. Right. Well, why do you think that happens?”

“Because the humans feel that way when they use them.” 

“Does my door feel that way?” 

Lucifer grabbed the handle and kind of swung on it before taking hold of the edge. “It’s…not too scared…not so lonely…oh. But it’s got a seal on it for good intentions.” He pointed at a small carving above the inner locking mechanism that she would have never noticed on her own. 

“Huh. I didn’t know that.”

“It’s my handwriting!” he seemed cheered by this knowledge, this reminder that they were friends and he was a part of her life. Door forgotten, he ran into the house. Chloe really wished he had the attention span for an adult conversation, but if an adult Lucifer rarely did she could not hope to have him accomplish it as a child. 

When she got inside she found him sprawled out on the floor, seemingly studying the wood while tracing it’s patterns with his finger. 

“What do you usually do for fun?” she asked, rather than trying to figure out what was so interesting about her floors. Whether or not they felt tired or comfortable, she really didn’t need to know. 

“Well…since we’re here, shouldn’t we do whatever you and I normally do together?” he asked, rolling onto his back instead of standing up.

“You and I do grown up things for fun, but you’re not a grown up right now. I’ve never really asked you before, what you did for fun as a kid,” she explained as she hung up her purse and jacket. 

“Right, I forgot. Well…for fun I’ve always liked flying. Then there’s mine and Mikey’s practice games, those are _super_ fun. I also have a game with Rae-Rae where we follow the others around real sneaky to see how long until they see us. Rae-Rae is better at it than I am,” he listed. 

“What’s a practice game?” she asked, hoping that it would sound more doable than his other suggestions.

“Ooh can I show you?” Lucifer got up from the floor and looked so excited that she didn’t want to refuse him…but it also sounded like it could go really wrong. 

“Maybe, but you’ll have to explain to me what it is first,” she decided.

“First we decide on an area…where would you say we are right now?”

“Los Angeles, I guess? Or are you talking about a different kind of area?”

“Oh, I don’t have to actually know what you mean for it to work. Usually we pick numbers, but it doesn’t really matter. We pick the area and then we pick a game. My favorite is ‘what if’.” 

“How does that game work?”

“Someone asks if something is true, and then we try to see if we can do it! It’s better if me and Mikey are both playing, but I’m sure it will still be fun. There’s already plenty of stuff here.”

This…did not sound like a game that should be played in the entire area of Los Angeles, if it was what Chloe thought it was. She also realized that she could not comprehend Heaven, if the place could withstand archangel children creating whatever popped into mind. She also couldn’t comprehend God allowing kids to wield such power. 

“What if the area was just this house?” she compromised, finding that she was too curious to not at least let him show her. She found herself wanting _proof_ of this existence making power. 

“That’s fine. Are you gonna ask a question? Make it start with ‘what if’, that’s supposed to be a rule. Between you and me, it doesn’t really matter but Mikey insisted.”

“Who is Mikey anyway? Is he your brother?”

“Yeah, Michael, my brother. You’ve never met him?”

“Not yet, no,” she felt bad bringing it up and decided to immediately change the subject, “but I’ll follow his rules. So…what if…the walls were purple?” 

And then the walls were purple.

“That’s too _easy_ ,” Lucifer complained.

“Oh wow. That was amazing,” she exclaimed. Her partner could do this, and never let on. Not once. 

“It’s just changing how it’s pigment reacts to light. I barely had to do anything. Try again!” he insisted. 

“Okay…what if…it started snowing from the ceiling, but the snow felt warm.” Like they were inside a snowglobe. 

“Brilliant! That’s way better than Gabe’s ideas!” 

All of the windows opened and air rushed in. For a few moments it swirled up towards the ceiling and then died down as clouds began to form.

“Oh my god!”

“Well, I am Dad’s Will.” The ceiling’s cloud cover grew thicker and darker. Chloe watched as snow began to fall, Lucifer’s words ringing through her ears. The snow was soft and warm.

“Do you wanna know how, do you wanna know how?!” Lucifer jumped up and down, the most excited and happy she’d ever seen him. 

“Yeah, hun, tell me how,” she laughed, tears of happiness in her eyes. 

“I brought a bunch of water vapor in but then once it got here I changed it! So instead of being water it’s soft stardust with a temperature cycle!! Only I left all the other properties of water, so it can still do whatever it is water does, so it snows! This is the best I’ve ever done with Mike’s elements!” He ran up to her and hugged her, breaking Chloe’s heart. 

Once, this was Lucifer. Once _before_ Time. 

“Hey, do you know if you’ll remember this later?” she asked, “Once you get your Time back?” 

“Of course I will. This plane has Time. Time grabs onto memories, too. It grabs onto everything. Wherever my Time is right now, it’s not here, so the Time that’s happening right now will have to go on it at the end. Otherwise it wouldn’t be able to continue past the gap. I think it’s called past or something. I don’t really know how that works. I only like to listen to the interesting bits.” 

“I’m glad,” she sighed, holding him closer for a moment before letting go. Looking at the clock, she still had a couple of hours before she had to pick up Trixie from school. _Right, Trixie’s going to be here_. “How about we put the apartment back to how it was and I can show you some human games.”

She did not know how to prepare for Lucifer and Trixie spending time together. This Lucifer seemed to have no ‘don’t inform humans of divinity’ rule to follow. Probably because humans didn’t exist yet for him. 

 

* * *

 

It had actually been really fun, playing with Lucifer. He deemed all board games ‘rudimentary’ until he read the back of Risk. Not about to play that game, she showed him chess. She had always been a middling player, but Lucifer picked it up _immediately_. 

Then they went to the beach, where Lucifer tried to explain what the thing he made at the apartment would have been like if it was the ocean in words that mostly went over Chloe’s head. Part of her kept imagining putting him in a room with a theoretical physicist and seeing what would happen. That would probably be a danger to humanity. 

They didn’t go swimming because Lucifer didn’t have a bathing suit, even though he had tried to tell her it wouldn’t even matter if he went swimming in his clothes. It was hard to make herself say no, but she could only imagine him doing something ridiculously angelic in public. If she hadn’t mentioned swimming, it wouldn’t have been a problem - apparently that was another thing they didn’t have in Heaven. 

“The sand really isn’t soft enough yet for lying, I don’t know why you’re doing it,” said child stated the moment Chloe’s back hit the sand.

“I’m sunbathing, it’s nice.”

“I like starlight too, but wouldn’t you rather wait until the sand gets softer?”

“I’m sorry, wait?”

“It will erode and be softer if you wait to lay on it…yes?” For some reason it was adorable when he would decide to defer to her judgment. 

“Erosion takes a long time, though. I don’t want to wait that long.”

“A long time? Like eons long or different?” 

“It…might be closer to eons long than not,” Chloe nodded, wishing that she actually knew how long an eon was supposed to be. 

“Well that’s no fun! What use is Time if you have to wait so long just to have the ground soft?” 

“It’s not that hard, L- Samael.” 

“Well I suppose not compared to all of your other surfaces.”

“I’m going to lay down. You can too if you want.” 

It was confusing, dealing with him as a child. Especially since his normal adult personality was so childlike in general sometimes, there were moments where he seemed more like Lucifer Morningstar in a child’s body…instead of before Time. He eventually did lie down and she decided not to say a word about it - if some of his personality traits were as enduring as she thought, his pride would definitely be one of them. 

Before they could get too comfortable together, Chloe’s phone rang - it was Maze.

“I have to get this,” she explained, wondering if she was going to have to give him a talk about what phones were afterwards, “and I need to you stay right here for me until I get back, okay?”

“Okay.” Such easy agreement. So…strange. She walked away to take the call, continuing to walk once she answered - who knew how well he could hear?

“Maze?”

“ _Hey Decker, why the Hell did you call Amenadiel in for this Time Eater thing?_ ” she asked, sounding more pissed than Chloe thought she would be. 

“What? Why wouldn’t I? He did tell you that Lucifer is currently a child, right?”

“ _Yeah, in many annoying words. We all know that Lucifer’s an impulsive idiot, though, so what’s the big deal?_ ”

“He…what isn’t the big deal?! Apparently his Time is gone!” People turned and looked when she shouted, so she walked faster - maybe she’d have to sit in the car for this. 

“ _Big whoop. Lucifer’s been wanting to meet a Time Eater for longer than I’ve known him. So he didn’t think it through, when has he ever?_ ” 

“I really don’t get how you’re so calm about this. Right now he’s a child and doesn’t remember anything,” she sighed, reaching the parking lot. 

“ _Amenadiel didn’t tell you, did he?_ ”

“Tell me what?”

“ _The main difference from the Time Eater gobbling up the Devil himself and some unsuspecting human, that’s what. Lucifer can exist with a physical form whether there’s Time on a plane or not. So whatever it’s like inside a Time Eater, he’s_ fine _Decker._ ”

Oh. “What the Hell?!”

In the precinct, before he left, Lucifer had seemed over the moon about going off to deal with the Time Eater. What exactly for, though? Apparently he’d been wanting to ‘meet’ one? She dove into her car as soon as it was unlocked, craving the privacy.

“ _Yeah, and now Amenadiel in all of his feathery righteousness wants us to go rushing after the thing. I don’t know what Lucifer’s plan is, but I’m sure his brother is going to mess it up._ ”

“Well…I’m sorry, but what was I supposed to think? It looked like he’d been completely turned into a kid, Maze! How was I supposed to deal with that on my own?! Why wouldn’t Lucifer have warned me or something?!” she asked, slamming her free hand onto the steering wheel. 

“ _Dunno. I’d guess he just didn’t know that the bits of him from before Time wouldn’t get taken. Honestly probably doesn’t even realize it happened, it’s not like he ever looks back on those memories. Lucifer’s never understood Time anyway, which is the whole point._ ” 

“The whole point?” Chloe was starting to get used to the feeling of being lost that permeated this whole day. 

“ _Of meeting a Time Eater. I never really got what he said before, because Hell was all I knew, but Time there is really messed up in comparison to here. Lucifer didn’t know how to do it himself but tried anyway after he Fell._ ” 

“And meeting a Time Eater somehow fixes it?”

“ _Lucifer is a visual and_ tactile _learner. I never actually paid attention when he talked about Time, because he was actually just talking to himself. Pissed him off. He hates Time._ ” 

“That actually makes sense,” she sighed, thinking about how child him talked about it now. Maybe the way it actually happened, he never did decide to pay attention to it. If he was anything, Lucifer Morningstar was stubborn. “How do you know he’s fine, though?” she asked, knowing she needed to get back to the beach but unable to end the call without some sense of comfort or closure.

“ _Lucifer has his wings again. I doubt his vow of not seriously messing with his Dad’s toy applies now that he’s inside a sentient dimension or whatever Amenadiel said it was. He’s still an archangel, Chloe. Walking and talking vessel of power._ ” 

Chloe thought about Lucifer’s game. _What if…?_ She had thought about how he never let on, in all of the time since he got his wings back, that he could do anything more than he had been able to do without them (aside from flight). The idea that he was ignoring his own abilities in some attempt to avoid his Father’s wrath or keep her from freaking out or…whatever his reasons may be, it hadn’t really crossed her mind. 

“So…uh…okay. You’re not going to help Amenadiel then?”

“ _Help is a strong word. I’m going to go with him and see what happens. Maybe if I can figure out what Lucifer would be doing in there I can stop Amenadiel from ruining it. If I have to listen to him complain about his Time Eater experience being ruined for the rest of existence, I will make_ everyone else _just as miserable as I am_.” 

“Alright. Er…do you have any time before you guys leave or not?”

“ _Might. Why?_ ”

“I’m going to have to pick up Trixie soon, and I was wishing that I’d have time alone with her to explain something about child Lucifer before she meets him. I have no idea what to say. I was hoping you could just watch him for a little bit so that I could get Trixie by myself.”

“ _No way. He can’t see me. You shouldn’t even mention me._ ”

“What? Why not?”

“ _I’d freak him out. The kid you’re dealing with_ is not Lucifer _. He’s a little fledgling archangel. He’s…_ pure _._ ” The way Maze said pure made it sound like she was about to vomit.

“Oh alright, well…never mind then.”

“ _I pry wouldn’t have that kind of time anyway. Good luck with him and Trix._ ” Maze hung up. Chloe banged her head just once against the steering wheel before getting out of the car. Looking at the time, they would have to leave to get Trixie right away in order to not be late. She had been on the phone for longer than she thought. 

Getting back to the beach, Lucifer was right where she’d left him. Maze really was right. The Lucifer she knew would never have been able to stay in one spot doing nothing for so long. 

“I’m back,” she greeted, sitting down next to him. His smile was big and bright and he looked at her like her presence was the best thing that could happen in the world. 

 

* * *

 

“We’re going to have to set some ground rules,” Chloe began as they neared Trixie’s school. 

“Whatever for?”

“Trixie…my daughter…she knows you, but isn’t going to recognize you as a child,” she tried to explain, only to be interrupted.

“Well then I’ll just tell her it’s actually me.”

“You could do that, but she…well, hun, she doesn’t know that you’re actually an angel.”

“Archangel. And why not? I don’t understand why I wouldn’t have told her.”

“You have, kind of…she just doesn’t know for sure because you haven’t _shown_ her. Some people…humans…don’t really trust something unless they can see it.”

“Why’s that? And what’s taken me so long to show her?”

“Humans sometimes…say things that aren’t true. Make up stories, for fun or to avoid the truth,” Chloe found herself saying, mentally getting ready for him to have another fit of tears. It would make them late for Trixie, but she was already looking for an exit she could pull off to. 

“That sounds terrible! She thinks I would do that?!”

“Not exactly…you never lie and we know that. It’s just…a human thing that doesn’t really…mesh with angel - er - archangel thinking.” 

“So then why don’t I just show her I’m an archangel?” Lucifer was not dropping the subject, but at least he hadn’t started crying again. 

“You told me once that humans have a hard time comprehending divinity,” Chloe said, reaching the exit for the school. They didn’t have a lot of time left for this. 

“ _Why?!_ You’re Dad’s creation, I don’t understand.”

“I don’t understand either, sweetie,” she sighed. “I just know that you try to be careful…most of the time…about who you reveal yourself to. Trixie’s…too little, I think.” Skipping over his constant use of his devil face to pressure suspects without lying was a tightrope walk, but Chloe thought she managed. 

“So then…what are the rules?” Lucifer was pouting and looking out the window.

“Just…try not to let on that you’re an… _archangel_ or that she should know you. She only knows you by our nickname for you, so she won’t think anything of it, I’m sure.”

“Okay, I’ll try…why doesn’t she know my real name?”

“You…like to go by your nickname when you’re here.”

“That seems strange.” 

“I wish I could help, but I don’t really know why,” she admitted, pulling into the parking lot and joining the line of cars waiting to reach the pick up point. 

“It’s okay. I don’t think I’m ever gonna get it. I think eons must be a longer amount of Time than I originally thought.” After that they both fell silent, and it was almost peaceful in the car. Then Trixie rushed up and Chloe was thrown right back into the whirlwind. 

“Mommy?” Trixie was confused the moment she opened the car door. Chloe regretted not stepping out of the car to wait. “Who are you?” she asked Lucifer.

“I am Samael,” Lucifer smiled, all lit up again. Chloe marveled at how difficult it was for him to remain unhappy for any solid length of time. 

“I’m watching him today for a friend,” she explained to her daughter, “so I thought we could all play together.”

“Oh, okay,” Trixie replied as she got into the car, sitting right next to Lucifer because he had taken the middle seat, “My name is Beatrice. Everyone calls me Trixie.” 

“My siblings call me Sam,” he offered up easily. All of his attention was on her daughter, so Chloe figured she should just start heading home while listening carefully to their conversation. 

“There’s two boys in my class named Sam.”

“Oh? Why do they have the same name? That sounds confusing.”

“It is, but people have the same names all the time.” 

“You don’t all have unique names?” Lucifer seemed flabbergasted. 

“No…I think there’s too many people for that.”

“That can’t be true. Humans just need to be more creative! Names aren’t the same as words, you just make them up!”

“That can be how it works on Mars when I’m president,” Trixie decided, nodding. Lucifers logic seemed to make sense to her, even if Chloe thought it sounded kind of odd.

“Mars? Where’s that?”

Belatedly, Chloe realized that Lucifer had no knowledge of _anything_ related to this plane of existence other than what he had learned so far today. 

“It’s a planet next to ours. Haven’t you learned about it in school?”

“I don’t know what school is, aside from that we were just there,” Lucifer told her, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to say. Actually, come to think of it, this version of him never sounded at all hesitant about asking a question or admitting a lack of knowledge. 

“Then where do you learn about things?” Trixie asked. 

“At home.”

“Oh. I used to have a neighbor who was home schooled. You should probably know about Mars by now, though.”

Lucifer gave Trixie a frustrated look and then glanced up at the sky. “I’ll just take a look right now then.”

“A look at what?”

“At Mars. Which planet, the red one or the yellow one?” 

Chloe’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel, but she didn’t know how to communicate to Lucifer that he was being too…angelic, at the moment without alerting Trixie that something was going on. She should have called Dan, seen if he could take their daughter for the day. Maybe she still should, once they got home. 

“It’s the red one. How can you look at Mars through the roof?”

“I’m just looking past it.”

“Right…Mars is too far away to just see though, even if it wasn’t daytime and the sun’s too bright,” Trixie pointed out. Her daughter didn’t seem to be upset about what Lucifer was saying, so maybe she thought it was just pretend. 

“I can see it fine. I’m looking past all the other stuff, too. Mars seems kind of boring, why do you want to preside over it?” he asked. Lucifer sounded like he was 100% invested in the conversation, which Chloe realized he actually always was before. When Trixie talked to him he never treated her differently than he would an adult. What she had to say was just as meaningful as what anyone else would, regardless of age.  

“I’m going to be president after people settle there. It will be more interesting then.” 

“How will you settle? It’s atmosphere is wrong.”

“We’re going to fix it,” Trixie countered, unfazed. This also seemed to be a good enough answer for him.

“When you do, I think you should pick one that never gets too hot or cold. The planet’s orbit is working against you. Maybe move it a little closer to the star?” he suggested. Chloe realized belatedly that Lucifer completely believed that they could do whatever they wanted with the planet since Trixie implied it. 

“I don’t think we can move it,” Trixie said, her eyebrows were scrunched up as if thinking hard about it.

“Oh…well, I think it will still work. Probably another rule to make it harder, but that’s okay. If it were me, I would-”

“Hey monkey,” Chloe interrupted, deciding that a change of subject was needed, “why don’t you tell Samael about playgrounds? He’s never been, and I was thinking we could go today after you finish your homework.”

Trixie couldn’t believe that he had never been to a playground before, but explained it to him detail by detail. Lucifer had a lot of opinions, but was getting more and more excited at the prospect of going. By the time they got home, Mars had been forgotten. 

 

* * *

 

“I’m finished with my homework!” Trixie announced, running out of her room. Chloe had been keeping Lucifer entertained by showing him how to bake cookies. Lucifer was amazed by the process of baking and classified it as ‘marvelous’. The cookies were still too hot to eat, but she figured they could be a reward if they were good at the playground. Well…if Trixie was, because it seemed Lucifer had a very easy time behaving (as long as she told him the rules first). 

“Alright monkey. Put your shoes on and we’ll head out.”

“What about the cookies?” Lucifer asked, staring at them as they cooled.

“Those are for after we get back,” she replied, making sure that Trixie heard too.

“Okay,” Lucifer agreed with her in the easy manner that was starting to make her uncomfortable. 

“As long as we have them before dad gets here,” was Trixie’s comment. Once they had reached the house she had gotten Dan to agree to pick up Trixie after dinner. 

“If you guys are good, we can have them before dinner.” Both children now had their shoes on and she ushered them into the car. There was a playground a few blocks away that was usually pretty dead right about now. The more popular ones probably weren’t a good idea for Lucifer, who only seemed to have the vaguest idea about how to act less like an angel. She wished she knew how to explain better for him, but this was all new for her too. 

There were no complaints about the playground being small, and she had remembered right about it being dead - they were the only ones there. Lucifer and Trixie both ran out of the car. Trixie was ahead of Lucifer, leading them to the swings which she had told him were ‘like flying’. Her daughter barely had to show him how to move the swing before they were both in the air.

“It’s not really like flying,” Lucifer called out to Trixie, though he never stopped smiling.

“It’s close enough,” she rang back. 

“Humans,” was all he had to say about that, rolling his eyes and smiling wider. For as much as it upset Chloe when he acted so different, the similarities brought her a strange sense of joy. He didn’t lose everything he was when he Fell. She hopes that this reminds him. 

If he remembers, which she was no longer sure about. If Maze was right, Lucifer didn’t know a lot about Time. 

Trixie jumped off the swing and Lucifer followed, landing more gracefully than humanly possible. Not that Trixie had been paying attention, running immediately over to the slides. 

“Most of these games are about gravity, right?” Lucifer asked, as they climbed to the top of the biggest one. 

“Huh?”

“Gravity? It’s to be a rule…or _was_ to be, I think it is now.” He looked around, as if able to gauge whether or not it’s existence fluctuated by a quick visual check. Chloe would no longer be surprised if he could. She got up off the bench she’d been sitting on, wanting to be able to intervene if the conversation went in a direction Trixie might find strange. 

“Like why things fall down gravity?” Trixie looked down at him once she reached the top. 

“Exactly.”

“I don’t know. Maybe? Why?”

“Well I just thought what if we were to keep the gravity, but change the atmosphere? It’s a possibility for your Mars. If the air was heavier or lighter it might change how strong the gravity was. So _technically_ it would still be a rule _but_ we wouldn’t have to worry about it wrecking any good ideas.”

Oh no, they were back on Mars again. Lucifer was now at the top with her and they were too far away for her to intervene without Trixie thinking she was eavesdropping and hovering. Normally she didn’t have to supervise her daughters interactions with other kids to quite this level.

“What’s wrong with Mars’ gravity?”

“Well you’ll be so much lighter! You would have to make buildings completely different from the way you’ve done it on this planet, as it is now. If you want it to be similar, we would have to make the atmosphere heavier. There’s a bunch of it past all those rocks, perhaps move some of that?” 

Chloe silently counted to ten. Lucifer _did not_ just tell her daughter that moving some of _Jupiter_ might be a good idea. She hoped that Trixie just thought it was all pretend. They were both just kids, after all. 

“Nah, I think it will be fun with less gravity. You can jump higher.”

“That is true.”

They both went down the slide and Chloe finally was able to take a deep breath again. She wished she could just _calm down_. Nothing bad had happened so far. Maybe nothing would. It was just… _too much to wrap her head around_ , so she couldn’t focus. Just the fact that Lucifer had de-aged like cheesy sci-fi was enough of a reality shift for one lifetime. 

_Everything would be fine_ , she told herself, _nothing bad will happen._

 

* * *

 

The playground had been fine, and nothing bad happened. Lucifer enthusiastically shared any and all of his thoughts with Trixie and her daughter never once seemed unhappy or freaked out. They had a lot of fun together. When they got home and had cookies, Lucifer decided they were better than the frozen yogurt. The chicken fingers they had for dinner were rated as good, but nothing worth praising. 

Now it was just them again, Dan having picked up Trixie a few minutes ago. When she left, Trixie had told Lucifer that he could borrow any stuffed animal he wanted to sleep with. Lucifer had asked what sleep was, but thankfully they were already out the door. Chloe was glad, because suddenly she realized she had no idea when Lucifer would be back to normal. It could be days or weeks or who knows how long. 

When she texted Amenadiel asking how it was going, she had gotten no reply. She tried not to let this worry her. 

She texted Maze asking the same thing, also no reply. 

Turns out, all of her worry was for nothing. Just as Chloe was thinking about broaching the subject of going to bed (she had allotted time to explain the whole process, because his patterns were predictable), a blinding light went off in her living room. Once she could see again, Lucifer - adult, proper, Lucifer Morningstar - was standing in place of his child self. Naked and waving something that looked like a piece of smooth white driftwood with crystals growing out of it. 

“Oh, Detective! Didn’t expect I’d pop out here. Thought I’d land back in that warehouse,” Lucifer was grinning, not seeming to have a care in the world, “but oh well, easier to let you know this way. Time Eater’s been sorted.” He stopped waving around his stick thing, tossing it onto the floor the moment he realized it was in his hand. 

“Lucifer, oh my god!” She rushed to hug him and then paused, very aware of his lack of clothing once the initial shock of his appearance died down a smidge. 

“No! Lucifer! Dad didn’t seem to care at all that his humans were being snatched away,” Lucifer complained loudly, before moving back to a grin, “Sorted it, just like I said I would. All put right where they were before they left. I’m hoping. I didn’t exactly end up where I was, but then again…Devil. Always unpredictable.”

Chloe stood there, open mouthed. He didn’t seem to realize how upsetting him being gone with little explanation would make her. Also either did not know or did not care that he had no clothes. She figured it was a 30/70 split. 

“We need to get you some clothes,” she sighed, turning away from him. She was just…too exhausted to start fighting with him for being so thoughtless. It would definitely happen later, because she wasn’t about to let him get away with doing something like this again, but for now just one thing at a time.

“Oh very well, but don’t you want to hear the story of how I vanquished the bugger?” he asked, following her into her room, completely unembarrassed. 

Lucifer as a kid and now, wildly over-talkative. Check. 

“Yeah, I do actually. What happened?” she asked, opening her pajama drawer to find a pair of boxers - she bought them to sleep in, but a pair might fit Lucifer well enough for now. 

“Yes, so, I went to that address you gave me and followed the scent to the warehouse. Whole area tasted like Time, bloody awful. Found me a leech point with no problem at all. Not very defensive creatures, Time Eaters. Always go for the easy prey.” 

Chloe handed him a pair of boxers, glad that today prepared her brain to listen to conversations way over her head. She hadn’t expected to have this comparison to make between him then and now, but then realized that this was her first time being an insider for Lucifer’s celestial goings on. Wow.

“So, pulled myself into it’s event plane to stare it down. The beasty didn’t like that much, and it had these awfully prickly bits on it’s…I guess tentacles works as good a descriptor as any. Going into the metaphysics of it would just get dreary. Suffice to say it got mildly dicey before I tricked it into thinking it had nabbed me. Couldn’t let on that I was corporeal…Detective?” Lucifer finally looked at the pair of underwear he had been holding, too engrossed in his tale, “Do you truly expect me to wear undergarments with cartoon drawings of pizza on them? Is this a polyester blend? I would rather stay naked.”

“Just put them on,” she ordered. The messed up thing was that she was so _happy_ that he was complaining about her clothing choices. That he was _himself_ again. She looked back into the drawer and found him one of her oversized t-shirts. 

“If I must,” he sighed, putting them on before continuing where he’d left off, “Anyway, once I was inside it’s dimension, everything was easy peasy. Took some time to get to the center, I’ll grant, but it had just added my Time to it’s being and my existence made it annoyingly large.” 

“Here,” she handed him the t-shirt before sitting on her bed. This wasn’t really the kind of story she wanted to stay standing for, when faced with the fact that it was _real_. 

“The Devil does not wear shirts that advertise police precinct events,” he refused, trying to hand it back to her.

“Fine Lucifer, just pick one out yourself. Also you don’t have to call _yourself_ ‘the devil’, or speak in the third person,” she rolled her eyes, getting slightly more comfortable. This day had been exhausting and it still wasn’t over. Lucifer walked over to her pajama drawer, smilingin delight and she realized a moment too late what she had just told him he could do.

“Why Detective, I would be honored. I’ve always fancied a look at your pajamas,” he said at the same time she shouted “Wait I can find something! You don’t have to do it.”

“Come now, make up your mind,” Lucifer prompted as she scrambled back over to the drawer and grabbed 4 big shirts at random and shut if before he could see any of her more skimpy (infrequently worn) options. He reviewed the options and selected an Earth day shirt she had gotten while volunteering at Trixie’s school. “You must find better pajamas detective. This is no way to sleep.”

“I think they’re comfy,” she countered, “anyway don’t you have a story to finish?”

“Quite right. Where was I?”

“You went to the center of the thing for some reason?” she was doing her best to follow along, but her mind constantly shouting ‘ _oh my god this is fucking real life_ ’ kind of made it hard to concentrate. 

“Yes! Took an age, I tell you, and that’s when you come in!”

“Me?!” What had she done?!

“You sent Amenadiel after me!” he accused. 

“Well I was worried about you!” she defended herself, “I had gone two days hearing nothing from you and then you showed up at the precinct as a child!”

“Detective, that thing you’re calling a child certainly wasn’t _me_ ,” Lucifer scowled, looking outraged, “I won’t have you believing _that_. That was a being before Time that predates Reality.”

“But Amenadiel said-”

“Amenadiel knows _nothing_ of Time disconnect. Time’s his jam, remember? Even when we all existed without it, he still had it. He knows _nothing_ about how…how different it affects us. He forgets that unlike him I don’t _need_ Time around to get something done.” 

“Well…he forgot, and I didn’t know any better. I was worried about y- the kid.”

“As you well should have been,” Lucifer said, looking serious, “I’m surprised the material plane wasn’t ravaged and the Earth descended on by Heavenly Host.” 

“What?!”

“That being you insist upon calling a child could have destroyed this entire universe with a thought, without any knowledge of the consequences.” 

Chloe felt like a rock had just sunk to the bottom of her gut. She remembered thinking something earlier in the day about not understanding a reality where kid Lucifer was allowed to play with the physics of the universe in any way he wanted to. Lucifer’s words echoed back - _a being before Time that predates Reality_. 

“I wasn’t worried about him _hurting me_ ,” she clarified slowly, “I was worried about him being safe.”

“Being safe? What could have possibly happened?”

“Anything! He had no idea where he was or what was going on around him, just completely lost,” she elaborated, not understanding how he didn’t get it. 

“Suppose that could be a recipe for some universe ending thoughts…good instincts, Detective.”

Chloe sighed. They were getting nowhere with this. “What happened when Amenadiel got there?”

“Ah right, back to the action. Good. Amenadiel swooped in acting like he was about to be some sort of hero, your usual holier-than-thou angel routine. Obviously I had things well in hand, but he _insisted_ on following me ‘just in case’,” Lucifer rolled his eyes as he did air quotes, “because apparently I’m a ‘magnet for danger’ and ‘irresponsible’. Suffice to say I had to tune out him prattling on and on about the dangers of meddling with my own Time and allowing myself to be schismed by a Time Eater while I went about taking the thing apart piece by piece. Really soured the mood.”

“You _took it apart_?!” 

“Of course! How else was I supposed to learn how it works while also getting your missing humans back? It’s not as though we could have left it be either.” 

“Learn how what works? Time?” 

“Exactly. Finally not so mysterious, I believe I have a real feel for it now. As restrictive as I always thought it was, but it has it’s reasons. I’m not saying they’re good reasons, but they’re there,” Lucifer was pretty much babbling at this point, so Chloe nudged his leg with her foot.

“Sorry, love, got distracted. That was pretty much it, to be honest. Once I’d taken the Time Eater apart, all that was left was to figure out what to do with it’s pieces. I wanted to scatter each piece along the edges of existence, you know as a dire warning for any others come looking around, but no. Amenadiel insisted that he take it all to the Silver City to be burnt. Such a waste!”

“I’m…sorry?”

“As am I, but there’s nothing to do about it now. I did save the heart, left it in the living room. Thought I could mount it on one of the walls in the penthouse. Never enjoyed or got the point of hunting trophies, but I think I’m beginning to understand the sentiment.”

Lucifer stopped talking when Chloe began groaning into her hands.

“Detective?”

“Maybe you need to not be quite so detailed about all of your…celestial…shenanigans. It’s just…too weird. I’m barely wrapped my mind around the Heaven and Hell stuff, I’m not ready for…beings outside our dimension,” she admitted. Never in her life had her brain felt so tired and frayed. 

“Ah…I see. My apologies, darling. It is rather late for you isn’t it? I’ll just need to arrange a ride back to Lux. I hate to imagine what’s become of the Corvette, but best wait and deal with it in the morning.” 

Part of her wanted to immediately take him up on that offer, but no. No, they needed to talk now otherwise he would have time to come up with all sorts of ways to avoid the subject - and possibly her. 

“Could you stay here?” she asked, “So we can talk?”

“Whatever about?” he seemed genuinely confused and the face he made was so eerily similar to the one the child version of him would make that Chloe would never believe his claims that it _wasn’t_ him.

“Aside from the fact that you gave me no real idea what you were up against or how long you’d be gone and then just showed up like nothing had happened?” she began chastising. This argument would be easier than the next one, so she decided to use it as a build up. 

“Detective! I was in no danger, really! Furthermore, how was I to know how long it would take? It was a Time Eater!” 

“So at no point did you think I’d be worried?”

“Well for awhile I worried that the Time Eater was matched up to this plane’s Time flow, but I kept my spirits up. Then Amenadiel showed up and said it had only been days for you! Marvelous news, really.”

“How long had it been for you?”

Lucifer became deadly silent, and the grin fell off his face. He stared at her and she realized that at no point had any of his smiles reached his eyes since his arrival. His eyes actually looked… _tormented_. She crawled over to where he still stood at the edge of her bed and took one of his hands. 

“Lucifer?”

And then it hit her, something he had told her when she had been too overwhelmed with processing other things to notice before.

_Took some time to get to the center, I’ll grant, but it had just added my Time to it’s being and my existence made it annoyingly large._

“Lucifer…did you…walk through that thing for as long as…” she couldn’t even finish, eyes welling up with tears at the thought of how lonely he must have been. 

“Yes,” he whispered. 

“How…how can you possibly believe you’re fine after that?” she asked, standing up on the bed in order to hug him.

“I’m here now, Detective. Couldn’t actually be bored to death. Plus you know what they say, what happens in a sentient dimension stays in a sentient dimension.” He made his jokes, but when Lucifer wrapped his arms around her they were shaking. 

“Okay…just okay,” she sighed, hating that she had more to ask of him but needing the clarification. She was too tired to be kept up tonight wondering. “I just need you to clarify some things Amenadiel said this morning.”

“Understandable, he lacks my way with words.” 

“Sit down with me?” Chloe posed it as a question, but started gently tugging him down before he could answer. Lucifer followed easily and she was glad. “So…after the…what do _you_ want me to call him?” 

“Hmm…that is a good question. Foolish small angel may be the only flattering title I could give him. Call him what you will, child will suffice.” She noticed that he didn’t look at her when he spoke. That didn’t bode well.

“Okay well, after the child showed up at the precinct I just… _knew_ that it was you.”

“Not me.”

“Not anymore, no, but it _was_.”

“No, Chloe, it was. Not. Me. We are separate. I stopped being… _that_ …long ago, and I will not allow you to _delude_ yourself, thinking that I am somehow-” His eyes had been tormented before, but now they seemed to be swimming with grief. 

“Lucifer I don’t want you to…to go back to being the way you were back then or anything, that’s not what I’m trying to say. You’re my partner. I want _this_ you,” she interrupted, needing to explain. 

“Truly? You would choose the Devil over… _that_.”

“I would choose _you_. Every time.” The moment washed over them and she let it linger before continuing. “I was wondering, though, why I recognized you.”

“I’m…not quite sure. Maybe because you recognize my…divine presence or some sort of rubbish thing. Maybe because you’re a miracle…I don’t know,” Lucifer sighed, falling onto his back and for a moment looking exactly like a man who had walked in nothingness for eons. 

“Guess we’ll never know then. About Amenadiel, though…two things, only I don’t know how you’ll take them…”

“Well let’s not add suspense to the torture as well. Best just get it over with.”

“Okay, he…told me that Lucifer wasn’t your real name, and that-”

“Please, don’t say it,” he whispered, hand grabbing onto her thigh where she was sitting next to him.

“So…it’s true,” Chloe confirmed, just wanting to hear his acknowledgement. 

“Yes, but I don’t…I’m not…”

“Alright, alright. Just…don’t worry about it. It doesn’t really matter, I was just…wondering, I guess. The other thing is just…he didn’t speak to…the child…all that much before he left, but it was like…”

“He tamed it down with commands?”

“No…he explained where we all were and when…the child…started asking about things that would really not make sense to him if he answered, Amenadiel said that it was how your Dad wanted it and…”

“The thing just rolled over to get kicked? Sounds about right. The poor sod wouldn’t know any better. Makes sense why the world isn’t epically altered, though. I should praise you again for your instincts, Detective. Seems calling my brother was a great plan.” 

“Heh. Thanks,” Chloe sighed and laid down next to him. “Do you want to just stay here tonight?” she asked, “I’m too tired to take you to Lux and I’m sure you don’t want other people to see you wearing that outfit.” It was _very_ un-Lucifer. 

“That would be easiest,” he agreed, moving to sit up.

“No, don’t go. You’ve let me stay in your bed with you when I’ve crashed at the penthouse. Let’s just…go to sleep. Talk more tomorrow.”

“Very well, Detective.”

 

* * *

 

Chloe woke up to Lucifer staring at her. He didn’t even move once she was obviously awake, just kept looking at her as though she was incomprehensible. 

“Lucifer? What’s wrong?” she asked before yawning and wishing she had some coffee in her hands _right now_ , before she’d have to wade through whatever was about to happen. 

“I…remembered.” Two words, each said as though neither made sense.

“Remembered?”

“Your…our…day together. The Time in which I existed on this plane as…not me.” 

“Oh! Right!” How could she have forgotten? 

“You were…lovely, Chloe,” he smiled sadly.

“Uhm…thank you, but…are you going to be okay?” She was worried. He’d been through so much in the past…

He’d been through so much. 

“I’ll be fine. It’s just…the reason I try not to _ever_ remember being him…it _hurts_.”

Chloe held him close and ran her fingers through his hair. There were things she would never know about Lucifer Morningstar. He had existed for too long to be able to share everything with her, and some of his stories she would probably never want to hear. Even so, she felt like she could understand him. That she _knew_ him. And he was too good to have had to suffer for so long. 

 

* * *

 

Weeks had passed since what Chloe now referred to as ‘the Time Eater thing’. She had just picked up Trixie from school and was making her daughter a snack when Lucifer barged in carrying a cardboard box.

“Where’s your offspring, Detective?” he asked, right before said child barreled into him.

“Lucifer!” Trixie was as excited to see him as always. He patted her head and tried to maneuver his legs out of her grip.

“What were you looking for Trixie for?” she asked, eyeing the box under his arm.

“Young Beatrice has expressed a desire to preside over Mars in the future, yes?” he hedged, handing Trixie the box, “Well, I’ve acquired details and explanations on all of its resources. So that she can plan ahead. Linda thinks I’ve done a fair job tailoring it to her ‘reading level’.”

Chloe wished she could go back in time and stop them from talking about Mars.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Comments super appreciated! I'm good with constructive criticism, especially since this is my first fic for this fandom.


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